Hello,

It's been a while since I've visited The Chocolate Life. When I was here last, my favorite place to eat chocolate was a small place in Philly called Naked Chocolate Cafe. From what I have heard, they aren't there anymore. Their website was never much help (and still isn't).

So, my question is, is there a cafe type of place where I can get some really nice chocolate in or around Philly?

Thanks for your suggestions!

I recently stumbled upon Neuchatel Chocolates. A tiny swiss chocolate shop about an hour and a half away from my house. Very nice! I bought a bag full of stuff there, mostly a bunch of "seconds", as their chocolate is expensive.

The first thing I ate was a brownie. It was very fudgy, but not as chocolatey as I expected. The texture was amazing, and the ingredients were pure. Maybe I should have tried heating it up. But I wasn't very impressed with the flavor.

However, I just tried my first truffle from there. It was so good I decided to boot up my crumby laptop and write about it. It was a cinnamon truffle. It was dark chocolate, both the shell and the creamy inside. I expected the cinnamon to be a light dusting on the outside, and maybe not to make an appearance inside, but I was wrong on both counts! The outside was a little crunchy, as though they had found a way to caramelize the sugar without melting the truffle. I have no idea what exactly they did, but it was very pleasant! The chocolate on the inside was cinnamonny too. This little truffle packed a huge punch flavor-wise. I wonder what else I have in store...

I bought a few specific flavors to try, irish cream, coconut, dark chocolate... Plus I bought a chocolate covered pineapple. And I wonder what wonderful surprises await me in the mysterious bag of seconds! It's difficult not to just devour them all!

Neuchatel is very good, in my opinion. I heard that they are offering a product through William Sonoma this season. Don't know if it's any good, but I will certainly try it!

I just got a ton of dark chocolate for $36!

Almost everything they have left is the darkest of the dark chocolate. I even bought a bar of 99%! I didn't know it came that concentrated!

I can't wait to try it all. I'll keep you posted.

I just wanted to write that before it's too late.

Well, I kinda know what nibs are (what they grind up and mix with sugar, or milk, or whatever to make what we commonly know as chocolate, right?). But I don't really get the concept of eating them.

So, I bought a chocolate bar (dark, of course) with nibs on it at Naked Chocolate Cafe here in Philly. I expected it to have an intense chocolate flavor, like how coffee beans have a strong coffee flavor. But I was surprised to find that they had very little distinctive flavor at all.

At first I thought they tasted like dark chocolate. Then I realized that the chocolate they were sitting on probably caused that flavor in my mouth. Then I melted the chocolate away from the nibs in while eating it, and then chewed up the nibs. When I did that, they had a familiar bitter flavor. It reminded me of maybe a bitter walnut or something along those lines. Is that what they're supposed to be like? How would you describe them?

Crossing Max Brenner's off my list, I went back to what I knew... Naked Chocolate Cafe. Right away I noticed a difference in quality. I've never seen chocolate shine this much. And despite it being dark chocolate, there was no grit at all. I had a tiny cup of sipping chocolate. That's basically melted chocolate with a spoon. I was quite pleased, though it was hard for me to tase anything specific. I think that's because it was crowded, and noisy. Or maybe my palette wasn't properly cleansed from the pretzel I ate before it. I couldn't taste any notes other than chocolate. I'm not sure if some chocolate is just like that, but I think I prefer that to certain notes - fruity ones particularly. And I expected the dark chocolate to have a stronger flavor than the milk, but I don't think that's necessarily the case with this drink.

I bought a chocolate bar to bring home with chocolate nibs on it. I don't know what nibs are, but I'm excited to find out! I'm saving that one for Easter.

So, I went to Max Brenner in Philly for the first time, today. I decided I'm going to try to review what I have their. That way I can keep track (have something new every time), learn about chocolate, and feel like I have a good excuse to spend that much money on food.

I ordered an italian thick hot chocolate. It comes in one of their hug mugs (that doesn't have a handle, and is more wedge-shaped than round). I expected it to be really thick, like sipping chocolate (basically a melted chocolate bar), but it wasn't. It was thicker than regular hot chocolate, but I think that was due more to the cream in it.

I got the milk chocolate (other choices were dark, and white). It came very hot, but I was able to sip it with my spoon. Very smooth, warm flavor, that reminded me of chocolate pudding cake straight from the oven. Know how chocolate baked goods have that different flavor when they're hot enough to give you a severe burn? It had that quality, which I enjoy thoroughly.

But I was so excited to try using the hug mug for what it was designed for. After being burnt once or twice (I have a lower tolerance for heat than most people), it was finally cool enough that I didn't have to hold it on the wedge-shaped plate it came on. So, I sipped the warm, creamy drink, and was happy with the result.

Though it wasn't the most chocolaty drink, I thought it was very pleasantly flavored. If I try the italian thick hot chocolate again, I'll go for the dark, to see if it has stronger flavor.

For about $6 plus tip, I thought it was worth the try.

What next? Maybe the truffle, I'm not certain yet.

Has anyone else had this? What did you think about it? Is there something out there that's like this, only better? Share your thoughts! Blogs are no fun without comments!

So, I was reading a little about how to describe flavors of chocolate. It makes a lot of sense. I think I could do pretty well with chocolate if I tried. (Well, for a beginner, anyway.)

But it got me to thinking about flavors that I have trouble describing. They're not usually in chocolate, but I thought maybe you might know something about it. No one ever knows what I'm talking about and they deny these flavors exist, but I'll give it a shot anyway.

There's one thing in particular that I'm thinking of right now. It's a flavor in yogurt and cheesecake. It lingers on the back of my tongue. I don't like it. Some people try to tell me it's tang, I'm just not certain. Maybe I'm confusing tang with tart, because when I think tang, I think fruit flavors. It's almost something I would describe as acidic. Whatever it is, I find it unpleasant enough to be unable to eat those foods.

And I just remembered another. There's a very distinct flavor associated with anything I've eaten that comes from the sea. It tastes the way the fish section in the grocery store smells. But when I tell people that a particular fish is fishy, they tell me I'm crazy. Apparently they can't taste something that I can't get past. Does that happen? Do I have some sort of extra strong tastebuds, or does no one else pay that much attention to what they're eating. I just can't change it. I try so hard to eat fishy or yogurty foods because I want to fit in with everyone, but I just can't stomach it. It actually does make social gatherings challenging.

Anyway, I'm trying to learn more about this sort of thing. Thanks for reading!

Edit:

I remembered another. Mushrooms have a very distinctive flavor that I can't describe. Some say 'earthy', but I don't think that's it. It's relatively subtle - almost undetectable - in the beginning, then it finishes strong with this flavor. If you cook with mushrooms, this flavor does not get transfered to the rest of the food. Sorry, that's the best I can do right now. Maybe if I taste more kinds of food, I'll get a better feel for it.

All this snow and these blizzards have me wondering...

What's the best chocolate ice cream?

One of my favorites (though not too fancy) is Bryers Vanilla Fudge Swirl. But I haven't been able to find it lately.

How about the best hot chocolate?